"Ah, well, I knew it would turn out like this."

John muttered as he waved his hand.

As long as the payment account doesn't have Maya's name, it's likely a fake account or virtual identity.

For a retired Special Affairs Bureau agent to survive till now, caution is a mandatory lesson.

Once again, the trail went cold.

John didn't feel he made a mistake in finding it.

Maya has a husband and children; embracing life means exposing weaknesses. As long as two people lie in a hospital bed...

Suddenly, words flashed before John's eyes.

[Scan detected, no signs of hacking.]

John instinctively tightened his grip on the gun, squinted his eyes to switch scans, and traced the red data stream—two assassins in black company suits were crossing the corridor.

[Affiliation: Raqi Industry]

[Scan: Subdermal armor, Single-Molecule Blade, etc.]

The two company assassins, both East Asian descent.

One was tall and thin with cold eyes.

A black turtleneck cooling bodysuit; probably a hacker who cautiously scanned John without making any rash moves or further contact.

The other wore electronic sunglasses.

His sideburns and hair were neatly tidied.

Both arms were high-density alloy, according to the scan results, confirming it was Raqi Industry's new Single-Molecule Blade, likely equipped with Sianweistan.

They weren't ordinary company soldiers, at least part of the security department's elite workers.

Why were they here?

The two walked past John from behind.

Their leather shoes clicked on the floor, echoing in the corridor, with scrolling subtitles flickering slightly everywhere.

They stopped in front of ward 429.

The hacker's artificial eye flickered as he pulled a smart pistol with a silencer from his coat.

The metal sliding door hissed open.

The sunglasses man walked in quickly, swiftly pulled open the curtains, checked under the bed and cabinets, while the hacker near the door peered into the bathroom with his gun.

"Dispose of the adults, take the child."

"Wait at the door."

The hacker said as he turned around.

Before the metal sliding door could close, a man in a techwear jacket stood in the hallway.

His eyebrows were sharp, his expression calm, silently and wordlessly blocking the way.

[Mission Objective Update]

[Protect Maya's family. (Not achieved)]

[Leave an enemy alive. (Optional)]

"ばか野郎!"

The hacker exclaimed, raising his arm.

Before the shot rang out, John kicked him back towards the sunglasses assassin in the room.

Thud.

The metal sliding door closed behind him.

John backhanded to smash the control panel.

Error messages jumped out on the shattered glass, isolating the room from the outside.

Whew—

John's temples throbbed.

The surroundings were covered with a filter, all moving objects slowed down several times.

Carts and miscellaneous cabinets overturned, the metal ashtray descended towards the ground at a slowing speed, the electronic screen hanging on the wall twisted in the direction of the pull...

A shadow moved swiftly to the door.

John's artificial eye focused.

Color blobs coalesced into the figure of the sunglasses assassin.

A blade ejected from his arm, smoothly gliding along the corner of the wall, slicing through concrete like cutting cake.

The arc was already above John's head.

The filter's color suddenly deepened.

The techwear jacket flared backward, brushing past streaks of light, dodging with precise distance.

John took a half-step back in the nearly frozen space.

His clothes and undershirt emitted a faint glow, a sign that the cooling core was increasing power.

In the time-stop environment, John's speed was faster.

This meant his Sianweistan had higher performance, and his neural stability was stronger.

John took advantage by locking the sunglasses man's neck, rotating the straight blade towards the inside of the ward.

A bluish stream of light drew a circle, piercing towards the tall hacker rushing over.

Blood spurted out, quickly soaking the hacker's suit, dripping down from the pointed tip penetrating the abdomen.

" ... ￥% ah, gur, gu%"

The hacker covered his stomach, retreating rapidly, making harsh and unintelligible sounds, finally collapsing against the window ledge, vomiting blood.

"くそったれ!"

The sunglasses man burst free from John's grip, his other arm also ejecting a blade, swinging faster in alternation, blue currents dancing on the surface.

The wall was slashed with charred grooves.

John dodged in the gap between the door and the bathroom.

He stepped up against the wall, jumping into the air, twisting to form an arc, kicking towards the opponent's head.

[Chip: Brazilian War Dance]

Thud.

A dull noise transmitted through his instep.

The boot struck the edge of the sunglasses, leaving cracks. An attack that could cause a concussion in an amateur bare-knuckle match only forced the opponent back.

The sunglasses man shook his head.

Just as he stabilized himself and was about to pose, he saw the pitch-black gun muzzle...

Bam!

John pulled the trigger of the [Widow].

The enemy was more dangerous than expected.

If unwilling to get hurt, there was no point in debating about leaving any alive.

The incendiary pellet exploded on the sunglasses man's cheek.

His head jerked back, fragments of lens and flesh splattered onto the ceiling, exposing soft metal and bio-eye circuits at the gap, flames igniting hair and collar.

John's Messiah's Eye suddenly focused.

He instinctively activated the Sianweistan, avoiding a close-range slash.

The sunglasses man charged forward, baring his teeth.

His face was damaged and incomplete, with operating system malfunctions, electronic signals transmitting erroneous information between limbs, Sianweistan running in overdrive...

The sunglasses man was already mortally out of control.

John was in a situation akin to fighting a cyber psycho, even worse because at this moment he was backed against the metal sliding door, only able to backtrack seeking a safe distance.

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